. then we will talk about the pending fiscal cliff and don breast in the middle east, then the managing editor of "inside u.s. trade" examines the role of the world trade organization. "washington journal" is next. caller: host host: good morning and welcome. we begin with the league to video of mitt romney at a recent fund-raiser. the video first reported by mother jones magazine hit late yesterday afternoon. cable news reported there's more video. a lot of opinions in washington about the video and its impact on campaign 2012. we want to go outside washington and return to the

voters this morning. give us your take. and remember, send us your tweets as well. and you can post your comments on facebook. or send us an e-mail. and let me show you the fund- raising video that appeared on mother jones' website yesterday afternoon. >> 47% of the people who vote for the president will vote for the president no matter what.

host: governor romney at a fund- raiser earlier this year in private video taken of him. it's all in the papers this morning. here's the baltimore sun --

this i romney was in california and spoke before a hispanic group there and then the video came out. he had a press conference last night around 10:00 p.m. eastern

to respond to the video. [video clip] >> it is not elegantly stated. i am speaking off the cuff in response to a question. i'm sure i could of stated it more clearly and in a more effective way than i did in a setting like that. i'm sure i will point that out as time goes on. we don't even have the question in that snippet nor the full response. the person who has the video, i wish they would put out the full material. but it is a message i will carry and continue to carry, which is the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes, because my discussion about lowering taxes is not attractive to them, therefore i am not likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who are in the middle. this is really a discussion about the political process, of winning the election. i want to help all americans

have a bright and prosperous future. i am convinced the president's approach has not done that and will not do that. host: your take on the video of governor romney and its impact on campaign 2012. you just saw him in a news conference last night talking about the video. usa today headline -- now to a republican in oregon. caller: he told the truth. the american people cannot take it. this is not as bad as obama's blunder about telling president putin i can even more flexible when i get reelected. we still have a voice and a good mind and we still live in the

best country. thank you. host: now to a democratic caller in west virginia. good morning. ahead. caller: i watched the video. romney is a spoiled kid. only thing he wants to do is be president. he does not care what he does for anybody. that's just his ambition, to be president. host: let me get your response to what the vice presidential nominee paul ryan said yesterday. he was in des moines. he said, "i remember the one time president obama was talking to donors in san francisco -- some are comparing this video to

the video of president obama, the nominee at the time, at a fund-raiser in 2008. caller: romney will not show his tax returns. he worked for bain. all it did was bring companies to make. a make. he is a businessman. he never ran a business, he just tore them down. the ones that kept the business is going. they just told them what to do and made it so they could do nothing but go under. they made millions off of them. host: more on the president's comments in 2008, when that was leaked, the "washington times" has --

orange beach, florida, bobby is an independent. caller: the video confirms what i have already known a long time. nothing surprising. mitt romney is essentially a mormon rockefeller. he is a super rich oligarch. you could say mormon kennedy. he is an elitist who does not understand the plight of the average person. i am in a quandary, as are many of my fellow christians. many of us are in the same situation. on one hand, you have this phony baloney secular humanists barack obama who puts his trust in

contraception and money or something. then you have the other people putting their trust in rich republican is some. we don't have anybody to vote for. so i am going to write in go to nick saban of the university of alabama for president. host: here is how the obama campaign responded last night to the video. this was put out by president obama's campaign manager. and this note on the buzzfeed --

ruby is a republican in virginia beach. caller: it is really sad that everything obama said in 2008 about people clinging to their guns and their faith, a lot of people in this country do that. but then mitt romney said 47% of american people are getting money from the government and don't pay taxes. how many times have you seen that on the news? they are all true statements. the fact is america is becoming soft. they don't like what they hear. two things nobody ever has talked about hardly, number one, obama said at the convention we all belong to government. i never thought myself belonging to government. if you think we belong to

government now, elect him four more years and government will take over your whole life. once it does, it gives you everything, it can take it back. america needs to wake up. we have a spirit in this country? . we believe in arms and face and we don't like people having to depend. on depend it's true. what's going on in the middle east is crazy and it's because of the media. the media is doing this to us. the media is dividing us. if we have our faith. we want to work hard. host: can i show you this map put together by the atlantic? it's on the national journal's website. this is what it says about romney's problem. it says the people that he's talking about, the 47% that don't pay taxes, they are in red

states and redstate tend to vote republican. caller: they probably are, but a lot of them are in new york and in the blue states. the reason they are in these type of people to embarrass our government, both democrat and republican. christians embarrassed the elitists. they're nothing but elitists. all they believe in is socializing with their own kind. we embarrassed them. we do want a gun rights and we want our faith. host: ruby, i think we lost you. here's the new york times this morning --

and this piece from a bloomberg news writer --

sandra is a democratic caller in alabama. good morning. caller: good morning, greta. i can only talk briefly because i will be late for work this morning in order to get this call to you and that's fine. i will work over to make up my time. mr. romney thinks 47% of the population does not work. i can tell you i am a democrat and i support obama and i go to work every day. there's no one in my circle that does not work. i paid $10,000 in federal taxes. dependents. any i make a decent money. i will pay my fair share. they tax me to death.

that's fine. i resent his attitude that because you are democratic, that you are somehow a parasite, but you are a victim. i don't feel i am a victim or parasite. i put myself through college. bused tables and drove a bus. he and his wife, what is this about talking about folks that don't go to work? host: here is a tweet -- back to our phone calls, patricia is an independent in bristol, virginia. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i am just calling because i think the key to what to romney has said, he said that it he is not going to care for a certain group of people. what is scary is he is running for the highest office, president of the united states. he is supposed to care about all people. what he does is supposed to be representative of the united states. that's the key. when he made the statement he does not care antaeus separating people. he is the one who is being divisive talks the rich and poor. it is very scary. host: patricia, you are calling on our independent line, have you ever voted for a republican?

caller: i voted for bush the second time. host: did you vote for president obama in 2008? caller: i did. i have two master's degrees. i am not lazy. i worked very hard and enjoy working to take care of my family. and i don't depend on the government for anything. host: did you ever think about not voting for president obama in 2012? have you considered voting for governor romney? caller: no, because i love the president and i think he's doing a wonderful job. host: we will keep talking about this video that was leaked yesterday. but there is another headline in "chicago tribune " --

the washington post this morning has a story about the debt relief to egypt -- the front page of the new york times --

those are some of the stories in the papers. we told you about president obama traveling to ohio yesterday. the announced action against china, filing a complaint with the wto about -undermining u.s. auto suppliers, the u.s. alleges. we will focus on the world trade organization in our last hour of today's washington journal. back to the phone calls and your take on this a leak video of governor romney and its impact on the 2012 campaign. now to pennsylvania, republican. what do you think, steve? caller: good morning. i have been watching the news for months and months and the web. the media tries to control the

dialogue. every headline talks about the problem with mitt romney. so many things are prefaced it with mitt romney's problem, which controls the dialogue, in my opinion. early this morning on msnbc there were talking about the video and made reference to president obama when he was talking with people clinging to their guns and their religion. then one of the panelists went into great lengths to further explain what the president really meant. and that is legitimate to an extent. it is legitimate to an extent because these leaks videos are taken out of context in so many instances. it is illegitimate because it was four years ago. what mitt romney said in his

follow-up press conference that he wishes the leaker would release the question that prefaced the answer. that's critical, but it will not happen. they are nothing but political who political it tried to put their agenda forward. the media will play it because they will support president barack obama no matter what. the 47%, it was badly stated, but i think romney's explanation of how he said it seemed like it was reasonable. host: you are republican. i assume you will vote for mitt romney. what about the independents? the ones he said he's trying to get, do you think this offends them? caller: i don't. i am registered as an

independent, but i vote republican. i changed my party affiliation from republican to independent because i felt the republicans acted too much like democrats under george bush on their spending binge. my first take, i took it to mean 47% of the people will vote for barack obama and deacon not changed their minds. it went downhill from there. thank you. you guys do a great job host: steve, i want to get your reaction to david brooks' column this morning in the "new york times" --

what do you? -- you think? caller: i'm not a big david brooks fan. i really cannot comment because it is too much to grasp in one sentence.

host: now, a caller in maryland. caller: good morning, greta. thanks for giving me this opportunity. there's so much to say about this man every day. he seems to be coming out with something every day that is absolutely silly. a veryis an empty suit, expensive suit, but still empty. he talks about taxes, yet he will not release his taxes and let the american people see what he was doing for the last 20 years. i think his tax returns are going to be so damaging -- and they will get out -- and the american people can see that he is stepping on the most

vulnerable people in our society. any man that can stand up there and say that he is going to walk away from 47% of this nation at when he is president, he will not be able to get anything done, because he turned his back on 47%. and about the press, the right wing of the republican party, they always complain about the press when the press shines light on all of their dirt. i say don't shoot the messenger, changed the candidate. one last thing, i find it ironic that this man is talking about taxes when all of his money is

in the cayman islands. they are not exposed to the american government. this man -- i am willing to bet that when we find out exactly how much taxes this man did not pay for 10 years or more, it is going to shock us. you have my congress lady coming on, that i love in the district, by the way. host: that donna edwards, next. there was a link to the gallup poll posted on the drug to report this morning -- drudge report --

\ is it possible romney's message might appeal to people who say the government should not be doing as much as it's doing? caller: the point is you cannot separate the government doing something for the less fortunate or the multi millionaires like romney. romney could not make his millions if it were not for the tax laws that he and his gang at bain capital, that's all they did. my point is when you talk about that 47% of the people he is going to stick to the curb -- curb, they are in nursing home patients, retirees, veterans, women with dependent children. for god's sake, that's why we

pay taxes at, to help people that cannot help themselves. host: another link on the drudge on the socialte security administration -- that's another story on the drudge report following the headline over this video of governor romney at. maria is an independent.

in new independent caller: good morning. it's going to be very hard for him, just as it's hard for president obama when he talked about guns and religion. the 47% of american citizens and the entitlements that we ought to all be examining all goes to israel and foreign countries. we have so many needs here. there are tax breaks for corporations to go overseas and they pay no taxes. to to late for people to consider voting for the constitution party. as for mitt romney's taxes, they should be investigated. also, president obama's school records. he listed himself as a foreign student. we have to have the truth. there are so many people in this country, the people who could run for office.

we are entitled to be represented by a government that needs our consent to the policies. until we get rid of the federal reserve, we will be behind. host: thank you. we will continue talking about the impact of this league to video on campaign 2012. first, joining us on the phone is the u.s. economics and trade correspondent for the financial times. here's the headline in your paper this morning -- what does the u.s. alleged against china? guest: the u.s. is taking a case to the world trade organization alleging that their export subsidies on autoparts are illegal under wto rules, the chinese export subsidies for their autoparts. they are alleging china is

flooding the u.s. with subsidized autoparts and putting american companies out of business. host: are their numbers to support this? guest: there are numbers showing that chinese auto parts exports have been growing and they have definitely been growing in terms of exports to the u.s. you can definitely say there's been a big increase over the last 10 years in chinese auto parts exports to the u.s. host: how did china respond to this complaint to the wto? guest: this is just the first step in the complaint. china is going to fight it, we can assume, but they also filed their own lawsuit against the united states yesterday, challenging american duties on certain chinese goods.

and so, while this was not described as a tit for tat, we can only assume there was an element of that in the decision to file a case on exactly the same day. host:? what happens: guest: when happens in china and the u.s. will get together and have so-called consultations at the wto on the auto parts dispute. that usually lasts about a month or so. and then at that point if they don't resolve their differences, the u.s. will ask the wto to set up a dispute settlement panel to rule on the case. sometimes these cases can take months, if not years, to be resolved. there can be countersuits and all sorts of law and the procedural situations. rarely do the consultations

-- [unintelligible] [indistinct] host: will this be resolved before the election? guest: this will not. there's little indication that the two sides have common ground on this. my suspicion would be that it does not get resolved in consultation, so this will carry straight through past the election and will be something that will have to be dealt with in obama's second term or romney's first term. host: the president announces this complaint to the wto in ohio. why? guest: ohio is a key hub of u.s.

manufacturing, the auto parts industry. there is strong in manufacturing. a lot of the companies, groups that have been petitioning for the u.s. to take this case have interests and activities in ohio and the upper midwest. and while the administration says that it says that-- only brought the case when it was ready, clearly the announcement was timed for a presidential campaign stop in ohio. host: how has governor romney or what has governor romney said about what he would do on china and trade? guest: governor romney has said that he would be tougher on china than mr. obama has been. he has said that he would label china a currency manipulator from his first day in office, which is something that a lot of

members of congress on both sides have been pushing for. the obama administration does not want to go that way so far. it would prefer to pressure china to raise the value of its currency through negotiation. governor romney has also said he would be tough on trade enforcement. there's no way to actually proof that he would be. host: james, thank you very much for explaining this complaint. guest: thank you. host: we will talk more about the world trade organization and china in our last hour. we will get deeper and you can call in with your questions about the wto and trade policy with china. back to our question, the video of governor romney that was put out yesterday on mother jones

magazine. the governor responded to it last night. what do you think the impact is on campaign 2012? david is a republican in salisbury, maryland. you are on the air. caller: people are living illegally off the government's. governor romney told the truth. think that he insinuated all the people live on the government or are doing it illegally or unfairly. i had co-workers who were not married, who were working and making as much money as i was. they were getting food stamps and subsidized housing and wherever else they could get.

there were living a lot better than i was. people make a living from living. off the living host: here's the new york post with this story yesterday about democratic congresswoman -- deborah is a democrat in richmond, virginia. caller: good morning. people look at this and act like they are shocked. romney has shown how insensitive

he is. just last week he did not even show up for the memorial for the person killed. i wonder if he is stupid or if he thinks people are. it's crazy to have the mindset that he has. i would tell him to get out of the race right now if i were his adviser. host: here's the new york post -- and, also, in the new york post --

bristol, virginia, phillips is an independent. caller: just a couple comments. people are all upset about obama's statement about being part of government. what is the whole thing about being concerned about elections? we are part of government. we are the ones that vote and make decisions and make policy happen and elect our officials, so we are part of government. people are taking t are atoo literally. host: here is the boston globe headline -- and here is the richmond times

dispatch -- and here's the pittsburgh post- gazette with a picture of the former governor scott -- california, henry is a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. this video just goes to show how far the republicans will go to advance romney. that is totally unfair. it's not right. they have been exposed. the whole thing has died down as if it did not happen. host: on mother jones web site, posted about 5:48 yesterday, this piece --

virgil is a democratic caller in washington, thed.c. caller: i have a brief comment. his statements are merely his statements really magnify how his domestic

policy would be. this is about as descriptive and specific he has been on its public policy should he become president. second, i would like to know what it is that republicans have on 536 representatives in the house that not one of them have the moral courage to disagree with the party? everybody is in lock step on one thing and that is defeating president obama. host: here is a tweet from john -- and the "washington times has this headline at ---

if you are interested in that it is called superpac app. now to an independent. caller: good morning. host: what do you think of this video? and video caller: it is tough for romney right now. it was a 70-minute fund-raiser and they only released a couple minutes of it, so there's a lot more to come. i think it will be more devastating for him into the next week or so. host: that's what the cable networks are reporting, that there is possibly more video. you are an independent.

were you planning to vote for governor romney? caller: i'm going to go for mr. obama. he is leading us in the right direction. progress is really slow, but under romney i think all of us will suffer a, republicans and democrats. anybody who is not a millionaire will suffer under romney. host: did you vote for president obama in 2008 > caller: i did. fort: ever voted > for v republican? caller: i voted for bush, which was a mistake. host: now to our last caller. caller: the video is ridiculous. people of the united states want to have a government like minnesota. i am disabled. i was beat up by my ex. i tried pre times to get on

social security and have been denied. i get $181 a month from the government. that's all. gold for obama. he is the man. host: thanks for your calls. next we will discuss campaign 2012 and the house democrats' legislative agenda with maryland congresswoman donna edwards. then senator john barrasso, with the latest issues and updates from campaign 2012, as this discussion continues. we will be right back. >> ♪ >> this weekend, live from the national mall, the 12th annual national book festival, today's of presentations and interviews, plus your phone calls, e-mails, tweets.

>> the country faces the starkest choice for president in my memory. you see, the president and i have fundamentally different visions than governor romney and congressman ryan and a different value set that guides us. >> under the current president we are at risk of becoming a poor country, because he looks to government as the great benefactor in every light. our opponents have a new model. they say "government is the only thing we all belong to." idon't know about you, but have never thought of government as something i belong to. >> watch and engage with c-span as the campaigns move toward the october debates. the vice presidential candidates will debate on thursday the 11th from center college in kentucky. the presidential candidate's face off in the 390-minute debates. wednesday the third on domestic

policy. tuesday the 15th in a town hall format. monday the 22nd on foreign policy. -- tuesday the 16th. follow our coverage. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with congresswoman donna edwards, represents the fourth district and maryland and its chairman of the red to blue program for the democratic campaign committee. let's start with politics and the video release of governor romney last night. his explanation of what he had to say at a private fund-raiser. [video clip] elegantly stated, let me put it that way. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question. i'm sure i could have stated more clearly and in a more effective way than i did in a setting like that. so i am sure i will point that out as time goes on a. we don't even have the question, in the snippet, nor the full response.

i hope the person who has the video would put out the full material. carry's a message i will and continue to carry, which is the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes, because my discussion about lowering taxes is not as attractive to them. therefore, i'm not likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those in the middle. this is really a discussion about the political process and of winning the election and i want to help all americans have a bright and prosperous future. i am convinced the president's approach has not done that and will not do that. host: congresswoman. guest: this explanation really does not make any sense. it clarifies the statements he made on video. he did not apologize for the statements. he did not retract the statements. he just says there were not elegantly stated. this is a real problem for mitt

romney. it's a problem when you dismissed half of the nation and that you dismiss them in a way that says they are irresponsible, that they don't meet their obligations, and that they are freeloaders, essentially it. i think that is what mitt romney was saying. it's very problematic. seniors have worked all their lives and are retired and maybe they're on medicare and social security. it talks about military personnel. many military personnel don't pay income taxes, but virtually all the 47% or 18% of them pay payroll taxes and paying medicare and social security. so is a misstatement of the fax. it is insulting. host: will you use the comments to raise the down-ballot? many subscribe to the

romney agenda that says people should be on their own and that half the people are freeloaders. our candidates across the country, i think they will be running their individual races in their districts and they will be pointing out how they would be supporting an agenda that supports the middle class and does what the president is saying in terms of his reelection and says we will move this economy forward, we will move america forward, we will do this by a really investing in the middle class and making sure the ones at the top who find all kinds of ways in the tax code to avoid paying taxes -- and i think our candidates in 75 districts across the country where we have an opportunity to take the house back and i feel really strongly that is true and even more strongly today with these statements that mitt

romney has made. host: so that sounds like a yes. guest: yes. host: could his message not appeal to some voters? a poll put out yesterday, the majority in the u.s. still say government is doing too much. guest: i think that what the president has said in terms of how we move the country forward and how we invest in an economy that is a growing economy and competitive in the 21st century is there are things government can do to encourage domestic hiring, encourage domestic manufacturing, making sure that our young people coming out of school are prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century and get into this economy. and that those are the things that will allow people to contribute in the way they should by paying taxes, by working, by meeting their obligations. most people want to do those

things. we have an economy that does that. host: on house races, and you feel confident about the democrats taking back the house? here is "politico" -- guest: well, the reality is we are running competitive arein 75 districts across the country -- we are running competitive n 75 districts. they are raising the money they need. frankly, they are good messenger's themselves. they have created small businesses. they are firefighters, astronauts, law enforcement

officers, former military personnel. we have great candidates. i think we are in an environment where the public is saying we don't just want career politicians running the game any more. we have a lot of candidates who come from a lot of different areas of experience and expertise. i think this is an informant in which they can win. host: now this -- is this something you and other house democrats can support? guest: i think post-election there are going to be a lot of ideas put on the table about

responsible ideas so that we don't go off the fiscal cliff and so that we meet obligations that we have to give middle class and middle income taxpayers the kind of support they need going into next year, knowing that things are still in flux. there are going to be a lot of ideas. i don't want to speculate which ones are up or down. i have not seen any indication republicans are willing to put revenues on the table. revenues have to be on the table when you consider the substantial cuts that are planned. host: are democrats willing to put medicare cuts on the table? guest: what we have done with medicare starts out of the affordable care act, it's making sure that we get the money out of the hands of insurance companies that are being overpaid, put them into extending benefits and

protections for medicare recipients. as i have said, when we get -- as we get to the end of the year and post-election there will be a lot of different ideas out there. my idea on ways to strengthen and protect medicare for future generations and strengthen and protect social and-- although social security is not a deficit problem, strengthen and protect social security for future generations, and do that in a responsible way. that also means revenues have to be on the table. they have to be on the table for the top 1% and 2% of this country, who are not paying their fair share. host: katherine is a democrat in dallas, tx. caller: good morning. when obama got in in 2008 and they had all the blue dogs and what have you, why don't the

democrats, and i am a democrat, why don't you all fight for something, stand up for something? that's why the blue dogs got kicked out. keith olbermann said if you don't vote in the midterm, you will get exactly what you want. so they got all the republican governors and in the house. i don't understand it. what can you do to help people understand what is in their best interest? it seems like the republicans are so off the chain. they are going into your bedroom. when are you all going to stand up and put someone in there? we are pulling for you all, but it seems like you all are divided, like you don't have a backbone. guest: i appreciate that. i think katherine is speaking for lot of people know that the president and democrats are on the right path when it comes to a strengthening the middle- class. she wants to see us out there

fighting for that. we've got great candidates all across the country who are standing up for middle-class values, saying we ought to be able to have a system where we have access to pell grants and student loans so kids can go to college. for people who work all their lives, a protection for medicare and social security guard important contracts from one generation to the next. i think katherine wants us to say it more loudly and she wants to hear what governor deval patrick said at our convention, that we have something to be proud of and we ought to talk about those. i think you are going to hear more that across -- throughout the rest of the campaign season for the next 49 days. catherine got a good point and i'm a fighter so i believe in that too. host: gene is on our republican line in california. caller: i'm a taxpayer and not a parasite.

i will soon be on social security. it is pathetic to have to live off the government. 47% of the country, how is the democratic party going to get the other 4%? guest: that was mitt romney's assumption about 47% of americans is dismissing and does not have to pay attention to and does not need to worry about those people. as a matter of fact, as a democrat, i am concerned like you are. people who pay into social security, i want to make sure social security is available for you. for young people want to go to school, i want to make sure you are able to do that when you become a taxpayer, so you are contributor. most people do that every day when they go to work. we want to make sure we have an economy that works for them. in mind like experience, i don't see a lot of freeloader.

i see people working hard to take care of themselves and their families. host: wayne is an independent in sumter, south carolina. caller: i was wondering about miss fluke, she is very well off and she wants free money. host: are you referring to sandra fluke? caller: yes. she is a freeloader. she has plenty of money to go to college. why do they get to freeload like that? guest: i think that sandra fluke, she has been a student in college. i think she was speaking for women's health care, which i strongly support. the fact is, as democrats, one of the things i recognize is as a member of congress, we do have a big tent that is available for

women, available for african- american, latino, and asian populations, that is available for people who want to work hard and play by the rules and just want an opportunity to succeed and stretch out that ladder to the next generation. host: guest: i hope so. i don't know. republicans control the house of representatives so they control what comes on the floor. i would hope that our leaders would be able to sit down -- i don't understand what this is the last week we are in session when there is so much work to be done before the end of the year. we have a job to do and yet republicans will gavel us out to focus on campaigns. those of us who are responsible

and know the tax cuts expire by the end of the year and unemployment that expires by the end of the year, the fiscal cliff - there is a lot of work to be done. should be in session every day until we get this work done for the american people. host: another issue is the payroll tax holiday. will democrats insist that the payroll tax cut to be extended? guest: i certainly hope so for 98% of americans who make under $250,000. i think that makes sense. again, something else has to be done by the end of the year so we don't go into next year with 98% of americans seeing their taxes go up. the ball is in the court of the republicans in the house of representatives. they commit the determination of whether we can get these things

done or not and they should be able to come to a position of compromise ford 98% americans, that they should be able to not see their taxes go up and instead, working on protecting the interests of those who make more than that does not make sense. host: the tax holiday right now is for everyone. the democrats say we want to go forward but we don't want to continue it for those who make over $250,000 per year. guest: that is the line in the sand. all these things are things we have to put on the table that have to be discussed. it makes the most sense for the american people. we know the effectiveness of continuing the tax cut for people making under $250,000. they give up and they spend it in the economy. people will make more than that

do not put it back into the economy. we still have an economy that is recovering. we should not do something deliberately that would jeopardize our recovery. host: a democratic caller from gainesville, fla. -- caller: it is a pleasure to speak with you again. i am one of those people that governor romney spoke about. i worked for 18 years for a company and i left in a position that was amicably resolved. my republican legislature voted against me having health care cost our group was too small. i now work for another company, a large corporation, and in order to get benefits, you have to work 30 hours. a white male of my job

complained about not getting the benefits. we were getting our hours cut. i have developed cancer in my arm that has eaten through some of the bone. and now i can't work but i was working there. now i have to be on medicare and food stamps. my question is -- it seems like if mitt romney gets elected and these republicans get elected that we will be at the mercy of the corporations. i would like for you to place big about us not be at the mercy of these corporations. guest: the one thing that can be done now is for people to take this election very seriously from the top of the ballot all the way down the ballot. the elections do matter and they have consequences. this one will have particular consequences. we don't have to guess what mitt romney and paul ryan will do if they get elected.

they will cut medicare and turn it into a voucher program and it cuts virtually every program that helps people like our caller every day through no fault of their own, they get cancer, they get sick, they need medicare and they paid into the system. he worked for 18 years paying into medicare and social security so he should have the benefits and take advantage of that when he needs it. it is the reason that you and i work. we don't have to guess at what the consequences of the election would be. that means it should be incumbent on all of us to do whatever it takes in what ever -- get what ever id you need and get to the polls. hold your elected officials accountable. too often, we have elections and the election happens and we all disappear. we cannot let that happen again. what is going on now and the

house of representatives will be devastating for middle-class people and poor people in this country. host: what are you referring to? guest: budget proposals that would slash and burn the federal government, take a meat ax to the federal budget instead of using a skull -- scalpel. none of us believe that government should do everything but there is clearly some things that government is the most to do and assist with. we have to make those decisions. host: on the negotiations over avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff, members of the congressional progressive caucus are warning that they will fight to kill any budget package that will cut medicare coverage, social security benefits, and

safety net programs for the poor -- all elements of the simpson- bowles plan. is that true? that: we're concerned parts of the budget will center around the earth -- around increasing the defense budget. republicans want to restore those things at the expense of poor and middle-class people. i don't think that is sustainable. if somebody wants to sit down with all bus and figure out how it is we can avoid the fiscal cliff but deal with their budget problems in a responsible way, we are all for doing that. to simply say that all of the safety net programs are on the table but everything else is off, will not be acceptable. host: republican from louisville, ky -- caller: thank

you for taking my call. i know the house does not compromise at all. 30 bills have been passed on jobs over to the senate or nothing has been done in the senate to comeback so that the house and senate can pass a jobs bill. but, the president wants his jobs bill passed - he did the joint house and senate speech.

it was defeated in the senate with 47 republican votes. guest: i think we can see the inertia that happens in the senate because of the filibuster rules. in the house, the caller mentioned the american jobs act that the president put forward which would have created millions of jobs -- i think almost 1.5 million jobs in this economy and it has been deep sixed in the house of representatives and the american people need that consideration. we model overpassing a transportation authorization which was only done for a very short time. that is the single biggest way we can create jobs in this economy, not missing another

construction season by making sure we are rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our transit systems, water and sewage and yet that was muddled over in the house. that means that states will have to bear the burden or simply not to the infrastructure that meets to be met across the state. this is problematic because you could put millions of people back to work in every sector of the economy if we just passed a significant authorization for transportation and certainly if we pass the president's american jobs act. that would be another 1 million jobs or so in the economy. the republicans have not even shown the bill the courtesy of putting it on the floor for a vote. that is irresponsible. host: independent color from columbia, tenn. -- caller: when mr. as a host on c-

span. -- week missed you as a host on c-span. glad to see you back. she seems like a very nice person, a christian person. i wonder if she remembered present obama giving the speech about trends billet -- transparency and accountability. i hope that he will remember that speech in the next four years and will continue that in the future. i will vote for him again because i think there is an importance to that speech. if you are a truthful and honest person, would you be a consumer advocate and if you would be, -- if you were a whistleblower, would you be an honest person to

tell the truth about was going on in our government? cspan is doing that for us. if you go on youtube and look under whistleblowers in our government, you would be shocked to find out what is really going on in america. there is so many problems and people are trying to make the government accountable and they have been punished for it. guest: i think this administration has imposed on itself more significant rules of transparency and openness probably more than any administration we have seen. i come out of consumer advocacy. before was in congress, a worked as a consumer advocate, a supporter of the public interest and a strong supporter of whistle-blower protection. i think transparency in government is important. when you look at the polling

numbers for the house of representatives, it shows the republicans have very little regard for our elected officials. it is important they have strong ethics and strong views and transparency. we have to review senate finances and that contributes so negatively to the experiences we have now in dealing with these budget issues. people oldness to account are important. host: here is a tweet-- guest: i don't know that gerrymandering is necessarily democratic or republican cause. both parties use that process in political ways. i have been much more of a proponent in the area of independent commissions and

citizen groups who do re-join of lies that have to take place to to population concerns. i'm a proponent of the voting rights because i think it protects the interests and voting rights of the minority population that are so affected by the with the lines are drawn. i would not give one party or the other a plus or minus on that because i think there is a lot of guilt to go around but comes to re-drawing lines for political purposes. host: here is a line from " the new york times" -- guest: pensions are earned and i think we have members of

congress who either served as elected officials and received a pension and we have members of congress who have worked in other areas of government. and received a pension. i don't have a problem with that because pensions are burned. what we really have to look at is the way we are protecting pensions and protecting private sector pensions. companies can declare bankruptcy and shoved their pension obligations aside. states are unable to meet the needs of their pension obligations. those things are much more of a concern than going after people who legitimately earned their pensions. host: she gets $174,000 per year in congressional salary and taking a $10,000 state pension and is one of the wealthiest members of the congressional

delegation with $3.5 million in assets and one of the richest members of congress. it is inappropriate to take the pension tax guest: it is a state pension she earned. i don't have a problem with anyone having earned a pension from working and taking that pension and that they do other things or add to their income, the more the better. i think we want to have people who are elected officials who have held many different kinds of jobs and take a bet as of opportunities they are given and that should not be discouraged. what is important is there is no reason people in her congressional district don't know about this. we all have to disclose this. i only work for my salary in congress.

when those lists come out, i am usually at the bottom of the list but i don't begrudge anyone at the top of the list. host: democrat, in indiana -- caller: good morning. i have watched you for awhile and i have some much respect for you. you understand us regular folks and you fight for us regular folks. i really appreciate that. as far as what you were just talking about, about the congresswoman, you might want to ask how much eric cantor or paul ryan, what are they making? i don't think you should really go there. i feel so sorry for you and what you have had to deal with with that crowd like john boehner and

eric cantor. i don't understand why we are paying their salaries when they are not even working. why are we paying for them? mitt romney has that snotty attitude. there are people that the public depend on, everyone talks about bad government but they are in government. they are getting paid -- they are government paid people and they have done nothing but complain and whine about government doing this or that. mitt romney has been a liar through this whole campaign. he has lied through his teeth for his whole life. let's get something straight -- he does not ever understand a regular person. he could care less about it.

host: we will move on to a republican in carolina -- caller: good morning, about what mitt romney said -- i make about $10 per hour. i could stay at home and do better if i went on food stamps and welfare. i could get that free because $4 per guest and how much food costs, if you give me money, why should i go to work? guest: many people who receive food stamps in fact that up and go to work every day. at $10 per hour, our caller is probably paid a lot more in terms of the rate he pays in taxes and the amount he pays in payroll taxes when compared with people at the highest income level.

when you disparage 40% of the public, half of the working public, you are saying that all of those folks are essentially freeloaders. they get up and go to work, they are not getting away with anything. they pay out a substantial portion of their income into payroll taxes. they are not freeloaders. they're just working people. i have been there. host: an independent in scottsdale, ariz. -- caller: there's a lot of talk from both saw it and there are two issues i want to discuss, one is the economy. what i have found with president obama is the quotations about the rich people, the rich people, the rich people. i am an entrepreneur. i have my own business. what i do know is that

distributors and all of these companies, private companies, are hiring people and they are making their income up to $150,000, it may be $300,000, but in that income, they are investing in the comic by creating jobs, by producing in come. host: let's get a response. guest: 98% of americans are well below that income, even the ones that have small businesses. i spent the last couple of weeks visiting small businesses throughout my congressional district. people work hard and hire four or five people to help them with their business. they are meeting their obligations. they are not wealthy people. when we look at the way our tax code is structured, it is

weighted significantly to the upper income. even the paul ryan budget and the mitt romney proposals give someone making $1 million a couple of hundred thousand. it is not fair and it is not fair to lump all of our small businesses and real job creators in that category. that is not where they fit on the income scale. host: democratic caller, go ahead -- caller: how are you all doing this morning? when mitt romney said the words about 47% of us are lazy and don't want to do anything --

let's call a spade a spade. he said we are lazy, stupid, and we don't want to do anything. those are his words. when president obama has to say something, there was a big uproar. what's up the fat? tax --'s up with a vat that? mitt romney is talking about if you get raped, you have to have a baby. think about that caller: when did mitt romney make those comments? caller: it is the republican platform that the woman gets raped, she has to have the baby. guest: i think what he is referring to is that in the republican platform, there are no exemptions for incest or life

of the mother when it comes to her being able to seek an abortion. i think that is an accurate portrayal of the republican policy. they don't want to apologize for that. it is important for the american people to know that. when i think of women who are working and the idea that you should be paid equally for the work that you do, republicans, by and large, by their votes on the congress including representative brian, say no to equal pay for equal work. these exceptions for rape and incest and the life of the mother when it comes to abortion, i don't anybody should make those decisions for a woman. when the american public begins to examine the actual policy position of the republican party and mitt romney and paul

ryan, they will reject it. on the economic front, they should reject it because their policies would result in real devastation for middle-class families that are struggling as it is in a tough economy. host: their republican from florida -- caller: thank you. we are in $16 trillion debt in this country. $16 trillion -- these democrats are trying to tell us that we are in better shape now and we will give this man four more years. there areonest -- many people not working. it is because of drug testing. many of them are on drugs and cannot get a job. a lot of them are freeloaders.

guest: first of all, if you look at where we are now and where we were four years ago, our economy was in free fall. when president obama came into office, we were losing 800,000 jobs per month. we lost 3.5 million jobs in the first quarter of his presidency before we had a chance to get the stimulus in effect and solve our fiscal problem in terms of the financial crisis. the president has righted the ship and since then, we have that 33 months of private sector job growth, 4.6 million jobs were created. is this where we want to be? even the president says no. we're in a better position than we were four years ago. people who had 401k programs or private pensions lost 1/3 of

their retirement plan when the economy was in free fall. the stock market has rebounded and people who have those plans have regained from where they were. people have to take a real examination of that and look at where the president wants to take us forward. he wants to get behind research and development, manufacturing and bank sure the students have the ability to go to college and apprenticeship programs will give them the skills they need to participate in a technical and competitive global economy. restructuring the automobile industry -- even in my state of maryland which nobody says is a state that had anything to do with the auto industry, we have automobile dealerships and parts acquired and those things are recovering as they are throughout the industry in

places like michigan and ohio and indiana. these are real accomplishments to look at. we were definitely in a free- fall and as president has righted bishop and begun job creation. host: 1 last phone call from ashland, kentucky, an independent -- caller: thank you for cspan. lot of issues with the democrats and republicans. we have been repeatedly lied to and have our money stolen. when you are borrowing 40 cents on every dollar and you are taking $117 billion out of medicare for obama care, with the health care issue, it has a provision where obama can have his own private police force. these things are bizarre. the amount of people on welfare

-- i'm a small-business owner and i am a veteran. i work 16 hours per day, six days per week. when i see him out here with the exuberant food prices and they are standing behind me and they have food stamp cards, you could not give them a job and a pie factory, come on. i don't mind helping somebody but this has gone way beyond that. guest: again, thank you for your service, i think most people on food stamps in fact are going to work every single day. they just need a little bit of a supplemental to match their pay checks of they can work and pay their taxes. most people in this country who are not working actually want to work. that is what is important to focus on rebuilding the economy

and create jobs and opportunities for them to do so and for them to grow into the middle class. the public is frustrated and i would ask people to examine where we were, where are we now, and where we going? it would be democrats in congress who will take us there and it will be the president of united states when he is reelected going into the next year that will help. when i look at my son and her family, there's a real opportunity and have to make sure that opportunity is available for all people. host: donna edwards represents the fourth district, thank you for your time. we will hear from the other side of the aisle, john barrasso and later we'll talk jamie strawbridge about the

complaints made yesterday about president obama's comment about china. >> reaction today from some british lawmakers to the nato decision scaling back operations with afghan soldiers and police. they said the move risks undermining the entire international mission in afghanistan. one labor party lawmaker says the change appears to reverse the whole access of u.s./u.k. strategy and the country. nato is says it is holding -- halting operations because afghan troops have turned their guns and nato forces 36 times this year, killing 51 people, most of them americans. there have been more than the last two years combined. two people have been killed by a suicide bomb in the south africa

-- in the afghanistan capital. the attack was carried out to avenge an anti-islam film that ridicules the prophet mohammed. north africa's al-qaeda branch is urging moslems to kill or dispel american diplomats to purge our land of their fill. a statement from the group praises the killing of the u.s. ambassador to libya and threatens attacks in algeria, tunisia, morocco, and mauritania. those are the latest headlines -- [video clip] >> people will find the unfiltered truth of what they are saying. beyond that, i like to use this as a thermostat up was happening in the country. sometimes you get so caught up in the beltway. i in "washington journal joy

because the calls are uncensored. many times you have morning interviews and people talk about the same topic. i know what liberals are thinking and other parties and it allows me to for my argument. >> cspan, created by america's cable companies in 1979, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. "washington journal" continues -- host: senator john barrasso at our table, senator from wyoming. let me begin with the video of governor romney from his fund raiser. do you agree with what the governor said at that fund raiser? guest: i have not seen the whole video. i want to get everybody back to work in america.

there are 23 million people who are unemployed or underemployed. host: those people that are underemployed or unemployed who are on unemployment insurance receiving money from the government, is mitt romney talking about those people? guest: i have not seen the whole video. my concern is for all the people in america. we need equality of opportunity for all americans. host: weekend showed the video that was put out by"mother jones" magazine last night and the governor responded to it last night in a conference call. [video clip] white hous

host: senator, your reaction? guest: the governor said last night that some of his comments were inarticulate and i would agree with that.

he wants to make sure that the country does well. the government has, over the years, expanded what services are provided. he looked at the numbers of how much money is -- has gone out over the years adjusted for inflation, more and more has gone out. i think we have to have a discussion on legitimate - entitlements and what government role is for the american people and how we pay for that we have 10,000 baby boomers that will hit 65 and go on social security and medicare. we will have 10,000 people per day joining those ranks of over 65. we have to, in a thoughtful way, ask how to deal with that. my mother is turning 90 this year. her life expectancy in 1922 when

she was born was 56. now it is 81. over the last 90 years, let expectancy has risen 25 years. how do we as a nation best addressed that that is a discussion worthy of having. it should be in the presidential debates and i hope we hear that. host: are you concerned about governor romney's chances of winning in november? guest: mitt romney will win in november for the right reasons. the economy is in disarray. the president's last four years have been in disarray that things that he has done that he has promoted which is part of the obama economy has not helped.

we have had 43 months of unemployment over 8%. take a look at the size of the debt, $16 trillion, we need to get the country back on the right track. host: our previous guest, donna edwards, was talking about the so-called fiscal cliff and negotiations between the house and the senate and the white house had to avoid that and had to avoid the bush tax cuts from expiring. what should be on the table for spending cuts? she said for house democrats, they want to see the payroll tax cut holiday extended but only for those who make less than $250,000 and the same with the bush tax cuts. extend them for only those who make less than $250,000 per it is that something republicans can compromise on? guest: this has been the most do nothing congress in a couple of decades.

we would like to see a number of things. we have not passed a budget this year or last year or the year before in the senate. as chairman of the policy committee, i have a paper that will go out tomorrow -- the democrats are steering america toward a fiscal cliff. there are a number of things. we have not passed an appropriations bill this year. why is that? harry reid laid it out. his new electoral strategy for paying bills is the democrats want to play ab;ame game in 2012. i see that we have not figured out how to pay doctors next year. the president says he has extended the life of medicare. only doctors to take care of

medicare patients and friezes that for the next 10 years. for somebody on medicare, they will have a difficult time finding a doctor to take care of them host:. something needs to be done as we head toward the fiscalcliff. you were a payroll tax conferees last year and agreed to extend the tax cut holiday until next year. are you in favor of this again? guest: i voted against the conference committee report. i don't think it will be extended this year but we're also looking at tax rates going up, the death tax coming back in a much more onerous way, tax going up on interest and dividends. there is a list that is very long. i have a five-page report on all the things that have not been dealt with. "the price of politics"talks about the cost of getting a grand bargain.

i was in favor of that last year and the president failed to lead. i think when a presidential leadership and we don't have it in the white house and on capitol hill. host: guest: there are additional hits with the death tax issue and raising taxes on the job create stores across the country. that is what i call a cl the fiscaliff and we're talking about a double-dip recession. i was debating howard dean, a former president of the democratic national committee a week or so ago, and he said he hopes we go over a the fiscalcliff. patty murray says she wants to go over the fiscalclifff. i want to find solutions. host: a republican from north

carolina, go ahead -- caller: good morning, we hear so much about you gotta us, , the republicans being obstructionist and it is somewhat true but we never look at the other side of that coin. how many bills since january, 2011, as john boehner and republican-held house sent over to the senate that senator reid has not allowed to go to committee or brought up for debate? he has pretty much killed them. i have numbers between 20 and 30 and most of these bills were related somehow to taxes, the economy, jobs, so on and so forth. you probably know the answer. guest: a lot of that has to do with american energy and security. and affordable energy. you are right, harry reid continues to block every one of them. he said earlier that senate

floor action will be planned less to make law than to bolster the obama charge that republicans are obstructing. that is why we have seen only 65 days of voting in the senate this year. there are very many bills, dozens and dozens of bills, to get americans working again from the keys downxl pipeline which are of mayor -- keystone xl iseline and the president's being held hostage by environmental extremist and harry reid has done the president's bidding on capitol hill to prevent those sorts of votes from even being held in the senate. host: here is a suite -- -- guest: i believe the senate

will pass the continuing resolution. it seems like that will be voted on perhaps as early as tomorrow. it sounds like harry reid again with his do nothing approach was to get his 23 senate seats out there campaigning in their home states because there are only 10 republican seats and it seems that every repulsed goal is to get those folks back out campaigning. i would suspect the congress is ready tomorrow or the next day. host: what is in the continuing resolution text guest: it allows the government to continue operating for the next six months. it spends about $1 trillion but it is a six-month bill to fund the government.

under our repulse leadership, there has not been an appropriations bill this year. -- under harry reid's leadership, there has not been an appropriations bill this year. host: democratic caller, detroit and michigan -- caller: good morning, cspan. the senator commented about the comments that mitt romney made last night. is he aware that his mother did mention earlier that was 90 years old was in the 47% sun that he was talking about? guest: david brooks writes about it today in " the new york times." there are americans from all walks of life who have been benefiting from what government has done. at what point do we have the

discussion of what will the government play in the lives of americans. ? people want less government and lower taxes. people want accountability. they want results. they want solutions. programs that have been successful over time, do we continue those and how we strengthen those and improve them? those things are there for people who need them. on the other hand, how you get more opportunity for people? in this land of the american dream, if people continue to pursue their dream -- when i talk to small business owners around wyoming whether it be a bakery or a florist or a dry cleaner or a rancher reformer, people who did build their businesses and to have worked

very hard and those are the people and hire more people, i would get them to continue to feel the confidence that they can go out and hire more people and get people back to work and get the economy moving again. host: this is from twitter -- guest: i support extending the tax cuts so that we don't raise taxes on people and that puts people back to work. it is for all of the different income ranges. the president said two years ago that you don't raise taxes on the job creators in economic times like these. that was two years ago. the economy is not much better now than it was then.

on employment is still over 8% so he should want to still extend those. host: can you make the same argument for the payroll tax cut holiday? guest: you could make that argument on all taxes. i think we need to broaden the base and have more people working. you have more people working, more people paying taxes, i think we have lots of opportunities from an energy standpoint. wyoming is an energy state. when you are exploring for energy on government land, there is more federal taxes that get paid into washington. those of the things we can do to raise overall tax revenue. this would generate more money that can help with social security and revenue sharing. host: arlington, va., independent -- caller: give me time to make

my comment and ask a question. i used to be republican and i'm a ron paul supporter. the only gentleman remaining in congress -- we have a nominee in the republican party called mitt romney. he made so much money sending judge oversees to china and now he wants to trips start a trade war with china. this is a gentleman who has five sons and not one of them is in the military? we don't have any money to pay for this war. paul ryan voted for two wars. he voted for the stimulus and tax cuts and now he is complaining about the debt. guest: i have concerns with iran

getting nuclear weapons. the issue now with israel and iran -- i think the president has sent mixed signals to israel. he said we have your back. i'm not sure what that means anymore and i don't think the people of israel now what it means. iran continues to move forward and they say they are using their efforts for energy and not weapons. i don't believe them. i think we need a red line and a deadline that says to people like leaders in iran, that is enough. when folks are protesting in the streets, bus -- the president stood by silently. many of them have been massacred. the president's foreign policy is very mixed when you see things happening in libya.

your heart has to goes to the families of those killed. the ambassador was killed recently. these are public servants committed to america and yet what has happened, they say is because of a video. i don't believe that. we could go on on talking about that. it is a very troubling time around the world. the president was going to be a different type of leader and the u.s. would be seen differently and the moslem world. it has not been better now than when the president promised this. it is actually worse under barack obama. host: use it on the committee the -- before a committee and the senate --

will there be an investigation by the foreign relations committee? guest: there will be. we are scheduled to meet with secretary of state, hillary clinton this week. as you know, it sounds like we will be out for the next month or so on till the election. we are absolutely going to need to get to the bottom of this. they say it was a demonstration that turned bad. people don't show up with a rocket grenade launche at a demonstration. this of this attack was on the embassy and the death of these four american heroes, to me it was spread -- premeditated, planned and orchestrated and not something that just turned bad. host: should the billion dollars of debt relief happen? guest: i have a lot of problems

with that. you get into the question of where foreign aid is used. i think the american role under president obama, in terms of being a friend or an ally to others, i'm not sure we are as trusted as we have been. host: we will move onto a republican in baltimore -- caller: good morning. not to go back to the 47% -- i liken this to the creed -- crazy tv commercial who is the only person in the u.s., the baby, who does not want free stuff. does not make sense to go back to bill clinton and welfare reform and say if there are

better options, getting around, maybe having something provided to you but there are other options, as a people, it is our -- is in our dna to be industrious. wouldn't it make sense to think about this in the context of health care reform? it is about feeding and building the economy. does that make sense? guest: it does to me. i like what president clinton did with welfare reform. there has been an effort by this president to weaken some of those work requirements that have been part of welfare. states will get waivers of the don't have to continue to get welfare benefits.

it will now read the fine work under president obama. de-- redefine work under president obama. i think there has been some changes under this president but i think it has weekends the things that president clinton put out there. america has a reputation of being a group of hard working individuals. i want to make sure there are opportunities for people who want to go work have those opportunities. there is so much uncertainty under this president who gives himself a great of incomplete on our economy and says he needs more time to complete the job. one of three americans in the country is heading in the right direction but two out of three are heading in the wrong direction. we have to change course and that will get people back to work. host: democratic caller from

florida. ♪ caller: good morning, i have a question. can you explain how the private sector got into this? why was affirmative action and mediated. ? can you explain discrimination? guest: that is a long question that we could spend the rest of the morning on that. i want equal opportunities for everyone. i want every child to be able to get an education and that's our our country has succeeded -- continued to succeed and grow and get to continue that. host: independent calls -- caller: good morning to both of you.

senator brown pushed in a bill to congress b mr.ehner did not bring that up and that was about the trade in china. i see as pulling stuff out of china and i am not trying to best of them but people complied aboutsolyndra. we spend $90 billion on energy and china spends $6 billion. guest: on not sure who you want to tax 90%. host: i think it is a neighbor.

guest: it talked about jobs going to china and energy in china -- china is importing coal from wyoming. we're sending energy to china. they are continuing to produce significant amounts of that energy. there was the $500 million thaof taxpayer money that was waste onsolyndra. some of the programs have been very unsuccessful. a number of the president's agenda of projects have failed to the point where even the inspector general said one of the green agenda training programs did not allow people to get jobs. it continues to be a problem. i think the president is completely wrong with his approach to energy so i support mitt romney's energy proposals

so we can be self-sufficient by 2020. we need to produce more american energy as part of our national security. host: colorado, republican caller -- caller: you say women live longer but that seems to be a problem. they live longer because fewer women die in childbirth. we can get cancer screenings early and yet you want to do it -- you want to do away with planned parenthood. i think this is about the evangelical section of the party. i have a daughter and granddaughters and when i was younger, i see us going backward. i'm a republican woman but i will not be voting republican this year because i do not see the hard work their needs to be put into women's health. guest: you talk about people

living longer -- i have practiced medicine in wyoming for 25 years. tohave wyoming health fairs' give so i think early detection of problems, whether it be cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure are a part of trying to help us live lunkers. effos to eliminate smoking have absolutely helped as well. -- are part of try to help us live longer. so we are living longer. the question is a discussion of how we continue to fulfil the promises to our seniors on medicare and social security with people living longer at a time when we have so much unemployment in need to make sure we strengthen these programs for years ahead.

when the president takes over $700 billion away from medicare, not to strengthen medicare but to start a whole new government program for somebody else, that makes it harder for seniors on medicare. i have taken care of many of them. it makes it harder for them to get a doctor and get the health care they need. host: the "washington post" reported yesterday mitt romney's plan would put seniors at risk. it says this --

host: still, these reports finding his plan would have a negative impact on the senior care. guest: you talked about very significant issues of access to health care. the president continues to use health care and coverage interchangeably. giving someone a medicare card does not mean they can get someone to care for them. with the health-care law, money for irs agents to investigate you, but very little for doctors or others to help take care of you. those are the issues that are out there. the proposals i supported and voted for is one that does not touch anything for those over the age of 55 and deals with a different approach. and aliced achievemte diminichi

rivlin -- i have worked with both of them to strengthen this for the future. i believe that is what mitt romney wants to do to keep our obligations to make sure we have something there for this next generation. host: ron, democratic calller in atlanta, georgia. you are up next four john barrasso. -- for john barrasso. john is up next. caller: you have been talking about a road tax reform, and i think that should end, because basically that is stealing from the people no matter how you look at it. -- talking about payroll tax reform. these people that are not paying in the fourth. two years now, you are

stealing from them because they're not paying in the amount. the other thing i would like to talk about is 23 weeks you only work out of the year up there, and don edwards said you have so much to do, i think maybe you should start working 52 weeks out of the year at the amount of time that is spent playing golf or whatever. guest: i think we ought to be here and go home on weekends and listen to folks at home. home in wyoming yesterday. and the weekend before that it will be home again this weekend in wyoming and come back and bring the best ideas in my home state to washington. i think people ought to do that. it is the leadership, harry reid, he wants to end this thing pretty soon. that has been is up for this

year. host: house republicans also. they control the house. guest: they have passed these pieces of legislation and have sent them to the senate and had just died there. if the house continues to pass a bill that are good for the economy, good for energy affordability and good for the american people and harry just let them sit there and die, they could stay here and will domesday continuing to pass bills that will not ever see the light of the day because of the obstructionist of harry reid, the leader in the senate. host: john barrasso, more exports and imports today. why are we not energy independent? guest: it should be part of our goal. it is part of the energy security and national security. with the boom of natural gas we have now, -- 10 years ago there were building ports in texas to import liquefied natural gas.

now they are retrofitting them to export liquefied natural gas. it will help the balance of trade. we should be exploring for more energy. you do not need the president going to brazil, which he did. we want to sell energy overseas. we want to be the supplier of energy, and we need it all. we need to be more efficient and how we use our energy. we need the renewable energy and make sure the other sources of energy are part of that as well. oil, coal, natural gas, uranium for nuclear power, because in spite of the president's green agenda, even his own department of energy says if he gets everything he wants, at the best 15% of the energy will be renewable 15 years from now. 85 percent of it will still be oil, gas, coal, and uranium. host: next call from brooklyn,

new york. caller: 2 questions. y is the governor of each state not prosecuting? number two, concerning mitt romney [inaudible] thank you. guest: i think he asked about gas prices. host: the first one was-gouging and why investigators are not -- gas gouging and why governors are not investigating that. it went up after labor day when they usually go down. guest: labor day was the highest

price ever for labor day. continuing to go up. each day, prices vary from community. they can look into what the taxes are in their own state. in terms of insider trading, congress passed bills. scott brown an act that prevents all of those sorts of things. i think it sent the message that this is wrong. host: was that pass into law? we had a tweet about that earlier so i wanted to clarify. guest: yes. host: next caller. caller: my first question is, in your eyes, as president barack obama done anything good or anything that he said he was

going to do? my second question, why can't we put aside the democrat, republican or independent and work together to get this country up and running? guest: i think the president made some promises he is kept, but i do not think it has helped the country. he said electricity rates would necessarily sky rocket because of his approach to fossil fuel- based energy. now we're seeing those electricity rates skyrocketing, and people are paying debt and hurting our economy. so he did keep his word on some of those things. fundamentally, under this president i think the country is worse than we were four years ago. that is always a fundamental question. i think across the board we are not better off than we were four years ago. 23 million americans better

under employed or unemployed. college students going back to live with their parents. over 16 a credible thadebt trillion dollars. we have had a deficit where we have spent one trillion dollars more than we brought in. that is borrowed money, all lot of it borrowed from china. we had an earlier call about china. we are borrowing about $2 million every minute. every minute we as a country are borrowing $2 million to keep our head above water. i do not think that is the right solution for our country. i think we have gone more debt with this president and a government that grows bigger every day, and i do not think that is helpful. host: dominick on the independent line. caller: you guys are the hardest

people to get in touch with, but i have a statement for the senator and a question for him. my statement is -- let me start off with a question. you made a comment earlier that the u.s. has been in worse condition under obama's presidency. you recall that? i was wondering what you were comparing his presidency to? were you comparing it to bush's presidency? host: state that again please. caller: i was referring to when you said the u.s. is of the worst condition under obama's presidency. i was wondering what he was comparing it to. what was he comparing it to? guest: i am talking about the fact that we of the 16 trillion dollar debt and its bigger every

day. we continue to spend money we do not have. the president promised and looks straight in the eye of the american people and said if you pass my stimulus, so-called stimulus, he said unemployment rate will not go above 8%. if you look at the charts they put out, by now it should be under 6%. that has failed. it has been over 8% for the past 43 months. what the president promised the american people and what he delivered are very different. someone asked about health care and insurance. the president promised under his health care law, families witchy -- with the health care premiums drop, but we know that is not happening. insurance premiums have gone up. the president like if you like what you have you could keep it. that is not the case.

many americans are losing the insurance they liked, they could afford. under this law, that is not the case uanymore. i think the president has failed and time for a new president. host: 1 last phone call. louisville, ky. caller: i would like to talk about -- host: you have to turn the television down. caller: i would like to talk to the senator. first of all i would like to say the pay date tax cut this lady is talking about here is not a payroll tax cut. i am a 66-year-old senior.

[inaudible] guest: i think he is talking about the peril taayroll tax cu. there are some of the things that need to be dealt with, and it looks like there will be pushed off to the lame ducks with a number of things that will be jammed up with. that is why i thought harry reid to have hearings and deal with the appropriations bill and pass the budget. host: what is your prediction in the lame-duck session? do you think there is a grand bargain or another short-term solution to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff? guest: i think it will depend on who wins the elections. are we looking at a president- elect romney coming in. are we looking at the majority

being republican or democrat? this would change the dynamics of what happens in a lame-duck session, which is why i think so many things are being pushed off until then. host: senator john barrasso, thank you for talking to us. and next in the last hour, we turn our attention to the official complaint lodged the world tradehed tto organization against china. >> the commerce department says the united states current account trade deficit narrowed in april-june period, pushed lower by american exports and cheaper oil imports. this is the broadest measure of trade tracking the sale of

merchandise and services between nations, as well as investment flows. economists predict it will widen again in coming quarters as the global slowdown is giving demand for u.s. exports and oil prices are rising again, in part because of increased middle east tensions. striking chicago teachers have another chance to approve a tentative contract agreement today. the vote is planned at afternoon meeting. this past sunday union delegates decided they needed more time to review the proposed deal. one delegate said it takes a lot to start a strike in do not want to ended prematurely. turning to the middle east, iran's state td reports they had deployed a russian submarine after it was overhauled earlier this year. it joins the fleet in the southern part of the country. drill is seen as a response to iranian warnings that it could

close the strategic oil route in retaliation for tighter western sanctions. they later withdrew the threat. the u.s. and allies suspect iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon. "the ap" reports after years of crying depression against the myanmar's democracy leader, the united states welcomes a new leader to the state department she begins her tour of america. they will discuss the political changes in the country, also known as berma and whether osh -- washington should ease remaining sanctions. you can hear live coverage at 12:30 on c-span radio or watch it on c-span. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> this weekend, live from the national mall, the 12th annual testable.

your phone calls, e-mails, tweets. -- 12th annual book festival. >> if the country bassist the starkest choice for president in my memory -- faces the starkest choice for president in my memory. the president and i have a different values that the guides as. >> under the current president we are at risk of becoming a poor country, because he looks to government as the great benefactor in every life. our opponents even have a new model, they say "government is the only thing we all belong to." i did not know about you, but i never thought of government as something i belong to. >> watch and in gauge with c-span as we move towards the

november election. an election and 39 the minute debates on the doctor ordered. tuesday, october 16 and the town hall format. monday the 22nd on a debate policy. host: jamie strawbridge, managing editor of inside u.s. trade. rules of the world trade organization. the headlines from president obama's decision yesterday to lodge a complaint against china for what it is doing to the u.s. auto industry. what are the details of that? guest: this is the latest case the obama administration is pursuing against china. essentially what they are alleging is that the chinese government is providing prohibitive export subsidies to

the auto parts sector in china. what that means basically is under wto rules, china is not allowed to provide certain types of subsidies. if you are not allowed to provide subsidies that are contingent upon exports that you could only get if you are exporting goods, for instance. what the government is alleging is china is providing those subsidies, and therefore, the violation of this. secondly, alleging china has not adequately notified members about this. host: here is what president obama said yesterday. he was in ohio when he talked about this. >> earlier this year, i set up a new task force to go after every unfair trade practices that harm our workers, and it is already delivering. two months ago we moved to hold china accountable for unfair --

trading practices that harm american auto workers. today my administration is launching a new action against china. this being against illegal subsidies that ship of a buoyant -- auto manufacturing jobs overseas. your senator, by the way, has fought as hard as anybody on this. [applause] so while folks are breaking the rules, we go after them. we will not let it stand. [laughter] it is not right. it is against the rules. american workers build a better product than anybody. made in america means something. when the playing field is level, we always win. host: jamie strawbridge, the president says hold china

accountable. by going to the wto, how is china being held accountable? guest: this is the last stop if you have a legal problem with the country. you could always approached them diplomatically, at summits, pressure them to try to change course. if none of that works, the wto is the backstop in international trading. you can see we have failed to settle our differences, so we will launch litigation under the wto. how that happens is they will hold formal confrontations to try to work that out, but if they cannot, a three-member panel will be appointed in geneva and examine the issues in determine whether china is violating wto rules. there is an appellate mechanism so it can be appealed. ultimately the decision to isup up to the wto.

host: when they make the decision, what are the consequences? guest: nothing means that china would have to change course for instance. it is not a global government in that way. what it does mean if china were to lose the case and decide they would still rather keep subsidies in place, even though they have said it violates wto rules, what can happen is the u.s. can be granted specific measures to take against china. those are called measures taken in response to an adverse ruling retaliatory measures. they can limit chinese imports of a particular good into the united states by hiking up import tariffs. the-barry is this would be economically harmful for china, so disincentive to not comply with the ruling. host: do they put out fines against the country? guest: no fines.

a country can always say i choose not to comply. there is some institutional pressure to comply. in addition to what they grant as retaliatory measures, members of the wto, including the u.s. and others, see this as a mechanism to help govern global trade and enforce the rules. there is pressure the measures -- members exert among themselves, and also because it is in their best interest to make sure generally speaking people are compliant. host: how has china responded in the past and how did they respond yesterday? guest: in the past, china and many instances -- in some instances they have decided to say we recognize there is a problem and we will resolve -- take away the offending the measure. and many other instances where

the u.s. has challenge china we do not know that because the litigation is still playing out. this is all very new. china only joined in 2001, so these cases can take years. many of the cases brought by president obama are still playing out. it is a little uncertain to how these things will be resolved. one thing to your point is that yesterday china again showed how it is resolving many of these cases. when the u.s. launches a legal action to china, china launches one right back. this is troubling for the white house in the obama administration generally. they do not think this is a good example to set. they charge that the case is that china is bringing against the u.s. are frivolous and puts a strain on the system.

host: are we talking about a trade war on this issue? guest: i would not call it a trade war, but if it is -- but it is worrying for the people in the administration if it were to continue. we did see this yesterday. it is a worrying thing that people in washington and beyond will keep their eyes on. we have seen china do this and argentina file a case right back against the united states with the u.s. brings an action against them. certainly something to keep our eyes on. host: front page of "the washington journal" -- -- "the wall street journal" --

host: want to show you what mitt romney had to say yesterday when he was in los angeles about how his potential administration would handle the china issue. >> i will also pursue a comprehensive policy to confront china is unfair trade practices, and i will do that from day one. [applause] now, the president may think announcing new trade lawsuits less than two months before the election will distract from his record, but american businesses and workers struggling know better. host: how what mitt romney's -- would mitt romney's policy different from what the administration is doing? guest: the most obvious one is

he has said he will be interested on day one naming china the currency manipulator. this is a very hot topic in washington and beyond. most economists believe china is manipulating its currency to some extent. how much, there is room for debate. the difference with mitt romney is by naming china the currency manipulator, you are upping the ante. you were doing something that will probably illicit some sort of reaction in beijing. whether that is a good idea or not is another thing up for debate. that is one area where he has tried to draw a clear difference between himself and president obama. president obama has not formally said china is a currency manipulator. however, at every opportunity he has pushed the issue and urged china to continue making progress. host: by saying that, does that trigger a trade war? what is a trade war?

guest: i do not know what a trade war is either. that term seems to pop up whenever countries file disputes against each other. host: have we ever seen a trade war? has this country? guest: it is very hard to know what a trade war means. these disputes come up, and the u.s. filed a dispute against china and china files a dispute back. people say are we at a trade war? on the one hand, filing a legal dispute is part of how we manage the relationship. we get problems with other countries and think they're not living up to the commitment under the wto, arbitration is part of the process. host: that brings us to when and why it was formed in the first place. guest: exactly. the wto came into being in the

mid-1990's. it has two functions. one is arbitration to make sure countries have a forum to when they say you are not living up to the commitment we agreed to, we can arbitrate and have a panel tell us their view. the other function is to lay down the rules in the first place, the rules that govern global trade and in theory they will continually be updating the rules to make them even stronger for global trade going forward. showinge wt, o, what it does. next caller. caller: good morning. i would like to make a statement. there are 2.3 roughly. we have a 5.1 gdp rate.

since 1975, last year was the first year we had a trade surplus. [inaudible] i have heard 50,000 plants are lost to foreign competition. the question i have is how come nobody noticed? guest: darrell raised two really interesting point for debate. the first relates to the sovereignty issue. how the wto effects sovereignty of member countries, and second of all, the trade deficit. on the sovereignty issue, opponents argue that sovereign

decisions like government could be affected. also, the other side would stress the point i made earlier, which is for whenever they do, a member country in terms of arbitration, saying you are breaking the rules and should change your behavior, a member country can always say i choose not to. they can always choose not to. that is an important point to make. on the trade deficit, darrell highlighting the issue that the u.s. has seen their trade surplus increased dramatically. so this is cause for some concern, especially when critics say wait a second, if our trade deficit is going up so dramatically, what is the impact of that on u.s. jobs? like every issue here, it seems this one is complicated. a lot of the trade deficits reflect u.s.-china -- this

reflects goods coming from the united states. many of the goods are produced by u.s. companies that have invested in china today get the image of perhaps lower wage rates or any number of reasons. even though imports from china to the united states, they could be armed semblable benefiting u.s. companies. a very complicated picture. host: with the numbers behind what you're talking about. in 2011, 282 billion. -- let's put the numbers behind what you're talking about. thehave to thurn television down. midland, texas. independent calller. caller: do you think it is that we're putting this on public? host: what do you mean? caller: do you think this is bad

we're putting this in public? coudln't this escalate? we're pretty much dictating south america. shouldn't we just keep our mouths shut and go on about this? host: you mean other countries might decide to launch a complaint against us? caller: yes. guest: thanks for the question. it is certainly a very complicated, i think, decision making progress of when you decide ok, i have gone through diplomatic channels, i talk to chinese representatives in a variety of forms and decide i have to launch public legal action. when you decide to do that -- at any given moment the obama

administration is examining possible cases. in this instance, i think the obama administration would say it had tried more behind-the- scenes efforts with china, and when they cannot reach a revolution in the topic of what they consider important, and they consider it without economic benefits or what have you for the united states, at some point they say we have to take legal action, because the wto does provide a backstop and is the recourse. host: "the financial times" out with this estimate. 1 billion estimates of china's car and parts subsidies in 2009- 12011. our topic here in the last 25 minutes, taking a look at the role of the wto.

james and wisconsin. how're you doing? -- james in washington. caller: it is three buds before the election. all of a sudden now you hear something about this? it is amazing how all of a sudden -- this has been an issue for a very long time. it should have been de one he should of been saying something about this. as for the wto, we need to get out of it and make everything in america. back in the 1950's we made everything in america. it is amazing how politicians have sold us down the road for so long. now the effects are starting to take hold. host: is this the first move by the obama administration 3 above through the wto? guest: it is not the first move.

was this a political move announcing it is close to the election of president obama making the case when he stopped and ohio for a campaign stop? it should be said that president obama has launched a series of enforcement cases against china since he took office. so this is not anything new in that regard. in fact, i believe he has initiated eight formal proceedings against china. this is the latest one. it is not totally new in that regard. people in washington are trying to draw the political connection because of where we are in the campaign season. host: the calller mentioned we wto.ld get out of the of how many countries are in it? guest: 157 numbers right now.

that encompasses most of countries that are making trading partners with the united states. there are some countries like libya that are li not members, but thailand -- there is a very wide club of members. you can choose to withdrawal from the wto, of this is talked about periodically and washington, but you have to weigh the costs and benefits of that. if you were to withdraw, you would not be able to do what the obama administration announced yesterday, which is launched legal action. this respond with subsidizing your own economy? guest: sure. if you are not a member and it's something a country that did not like, you could do something to

hurt their exports for instance. at that point you are out of the group members that are trying to regulate trade and make sure it is fair as possible for everyone. host: how is the wto paid for? guest: it is a member-driven and member-funded organization. the members actually pay for it. the pay more significant amounts than members of a smaller community. that is where it is funded. it is founded in geneva. they have representatives there to work out the daily business of governing trade. host: how do you become a member? guest: it is a very vigorous process. some countries can take years trying to join. the reason it can take so long is because countries have to go through a formal process. we saw this most recently with russia, which after almost two

decades of negotiations finally was admitted to the wto just last month in august. it is a long process where you have to negotiate with all other members. first of all, what are the terms i will come in under? this is a chance for members to negotiate with you to try to get better access to the market and tons of technical work that has to be done. host: john, albuquerque, new mexico. the keeper waiting. calle-- thank you for waiting. caller: very interesting. how many members trade with iran , even though there is an embargo with them? [unintelligible] [no audio] the first george bush was opposed to nafta. as soon as it got in there he

gave us nafta. the wto was a tool of the corporations to control markets. host: let's get a response. guest: on the first point, it is true the wto and members to compose most of world trade. i mentioned a few countries that are not members, but if you think of the vast majority of u.s. trade, they're going to members. it does have very wide representation. it is also true we have joined, so you might not see congress every single year for instance debating we should be in or should we not? sometimesare in thit, eclipsed to the background. the calller raised some of the

concerns that some people stress about being in the wto. is it a tool for corporations the calller said? does it benefit big business but not average working people? these were debates that were even more intense in the 1990's when it first came into being, and late 1990's especially. some of the protests in that time were quite intense and dangerous. host: here is a tweet -- republican and honolulu. you are up next. caller: i have been watching this wto thing on this morning. it is pretty interesting. i am for it and a level playing field, but it looks like the chinese want to have their cake

and eat it, too. our so-called president that is taking care of us. obviously he just wants machel and there for another four years to keep her happy. -- michelle in there for another four years to keep her happy. it looks like obama will be reelected in we will have to work 20% on currency, and that will adjust things immediately. it will set the world on its fanny for a while. host: lower the currency 20%. what do you make of that? guest: there are two currency questions here. we a long alleged china is manipulating its currency. i think the calller might have been referring to recent actions

by the fed. could that affect on u.s. currency? i would rather not touch that, because it is not something i am an expert on. there are plenty of qualified people that are more inept at speaking to that. i will speak to my first point, the point that they can have their cake and eat it, too. i think what the calller is referring to is something that president obama and mitt romney both agree on, republicans and democrats both agree on is since china has joined the wto, it has not lived up to all of the rules. that is bipartisan consensus. that is why their books on china that is why they say i will make sure they live up to the rules and enforce them. the other side to that coin is when china joined in 2001, it had to take on far-reaching reforms.

the agreement to become a member called for a lot of reforms across the chinese economy, which is obviously not the market-based economy and not the history united states does. was asking a lot of china. host: american heroes does is it fair to say there really is no such thing as sunday trade deficit? it is not a debt anyway. in michigan.endent and michig caller: i was calling in regards to the oil pipeline from alaska to canada. they found the mother lode of oil years ago. it takes a-10 years to get it to the market. they talk about the global economy. now they are moving the oil from alaska down to the gulf so they

can get it out to the other countries, but they cannot use ships in alaska because the water is frozen nine months out of the year. host: how does this relate to the conversation about the world trade organization? caller: because they say we import 60 percent of the oil and coal. it is actually the other way. we export 60%. we let the other side of the world drive our gas up to $5 per gallon. i was wondering how they can continue to use the other side of the world to drive up fuel prices here? host: jamie strawbridge? guest: in terms of oil trade in north america and the effects of i have to or rollules, plead ignorance on that.

i am not sure. caller: i would like to talk about how the free trade agreements are the poison that are putting all of the most vulnerable americans out of work, and how their democratic leaders are supportive. it traditionally the democratic leaders were supportive of the unions. the democrats in congress did white house betrayed the party by making it legal to do that. we used to trade with people that have the same standards and rights that we did. now it has always been a republican wet dream to do away with the unions via this route. host: free trade agreement, are there recognized by the owto? do they have to be given the ok by the wto? guest: under wto rules, members

are allowed to negotiate bilateral or regional agreements that will set a preferential terms of trade between under not that the u.s., canada, and mexico. countries do this all the time, and the united states does this, too. part of the reason is because the wto is a large organization, 157 members. you can imagine how tough it would be for them to agree to anything. what happens is these countries go off and do their own thing in the meantime. that is allowed. as long as you have certain criteria in the trade agreement in substantially covering all trade, that is perfectly ok. countries do that all the time. i think the calller was raising an interesting point, which is that when we negotiate a bilateral trade deals outside of the wto, obviously we have to

bring them back to congress for approval obviously. trade remains a controversial topic, absolutely, but in congress right now there have been in the past couple of years enough votes to pass these agreements. many democrats will vote against them, but all the way they have extremely strong republican support. we saw that in the trade deal passed last october with south korea, for instance. they also have some support on the democratic side of the aisle, you up to basically ensure passage once they come up. hence the feeling the calller was expressing that while many democrats are not for the trade unions, there is enough support to pass them. host: does wto deal with labor standards when it comes to trade? guest: not nearly the extent the u.s. does in their own bilateral support. there are rules lated --

related to and our mental protections -- environmental protections, but many other countries fear that strong labor standards, that is developed country ways to try to limit imports to say in india you have to live up to the top labor standards in order to import goods to the united states. that conversation has not gone too far, but by contrast, especially receive free -- recently have gone much further on those issues. host: 10 minutes left to talk about their role of the world trade organization following the news that the u.s. has filed an official complaint with the world trade organization over china's practices when it comes to auto supplies.

gene, republican and winchester, virginia. caller: good morning. how many proceedings brought against china have been resolved and how many proceedings has china brought against the u.s. and how many of those have been resolved? what is still left out there, and have they been resolved satisfactorily that have been resolved? guest: that is a great question. everyone -- as i alluded to before, the obama administration has brought a series of cases against china. i believe they initiated formally eight different proceedings, which administration officials will be quick to point out, is more than what the former president george w. bush didn in two terms. china has brought a series of cases against the united states. i would have to check the exact

number, but as we were china isng before, w following with the case right back. how they have been resolved ultimately, many of the cases are still in litigate of process. some have been resolved subsidies for wind turbines in china. that was one instance where china said i will remove this measure. many are still in the process. china brought the case and won against the united states recently having to do with measures the united states for putting into place for china and providing protection. we're still trying to see if china is going to stay -- say it is not adequately applied. host: independent calller in

california. caller: nice to have you back. the first 200 years of our history with the carrots we oppose paid for government completely without any tax. what we now we have dropped all of the tariffs down to 0 or 2% baby. i wonder how it feels to be in this giant circle jerk and the only ones there with our shorts around our ankles and maybe britain. host: al, detroit, michigan. we lost al. moving on to republican. berta, you there? paul, go ahead with your question or comment. caller: one of the purposes is to gather and buy from each

other. for the tax money to stay in the city or state or country. if they do not deal with each other, who will buy their products? we have to showcase the business through parade, street fair. if you go through the internet, you know everything through the internet. you do not know how people will get your product. host: jamie strawbridge, anything there to respond to? guest: i think he is raising questions about the internet and howard as intersecting with business. i have to say that as a little bit out of the area of my expertise. host: shut, independent calller.

-- chuck. caller: thank you. i have been listening to this and have been bothered by take it for a long time. i know the obama administration has brought a suit against the chinese for equal and fair trade under president bush, which has not happened. we cannot control the chinese. we have sued and even one, but no one is enforcing it. they did an appeal for more time. we should stop these corporations from going over and participating in trade. we should be terrifying them -- tarrifying them to care of social security and people who do not have jobs because of this? guest: yes, thank you for your

question. i think what you raised is something that we hear a lot, and that is when china joined the wto in 2001, maybe you thought china agreed to the best set of rules and everything will go smoothly for trade relationship, but we are still in the transition time. china is still not living up to many of the rules many people would say. we're still litigating over what we perceive is their lack of compliance, in this litigation process take years. it really does between starting formal confrontations and going through an appellate process and process to determine what china has done implies with the rulings of the case. it can go on for years and years. that can be frustrating for people who want to really make sure we are enforcing the trickles quickly and strongly. -- trade rules quickly and strongly. we were in the general agreement

on tariffs and trade. this came into force in 1995. and what happened then was these members revamp the global trading system to expand the continue areas, not just good, and made the enforcement mechanism have a little more teeth to it than it did before. so the u.s. and other members created tehe wto. host: who pushed it? it was the leader on it? guest: the united states was certainly a leader. europe was certainly a leader. of course, china was not around back then. they joined later. other big influences at the time for japan and canada. those four countries played a leading role in the establishment. host: michael on the democrat line. caller: i have a calller i would

like to make. first of all, our representatives of this country, the united states, they need to acknowledge the fact that all of the alliance is we have are not alliances. some are at the series, so why would you teach them your practices? a -- some our adversaries, so why would you teach that your practices? secondly, i have a comment. i would like to say the united states needs to start taking care of its own, i own i mean what is in this united states, this land. quit trying to police the whole world. everyone is turning their back on the united states it seems like. when everyone turned their back on you, turned their back on them. you worry about the people in this country. host: jamie strawbridge. guest: thanks, michael.

the point about taking care of your own, the u.s. government primary responsibility is to make sure their citizens are doing well. i think this administration, if you were to ask them, it's two sides of the same coin. they say we're taking china to court in the wto and enforce the global trade rules that has an effect on american workers. when you do that, and said china at the subsidies you are provided auto parts and auto sector are unfair and should remove those, if china does remove those, that could make u.s. exports of auto parts more competitive in third country markets, and also, allow u.s. auto parts manufacturers to compete on a more level playing field against chinese imports. when you are more competitive in third markets, if you are better able to compete against imports, that could lead to greater profits for comni